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Officials in France Identify 2nd Man Who Attacked Church, Killing Priest France Identifies 2nd Man Who Attacked Church and Killed Priest
(about 9 hours later)
PARIS — The French authorities identified on Thursday a second man who stormed a church in Normandy and killed an 85-year-old priest as he celebrated Mass. PARIS — The French authorities on Thursday identified a second man who stormed a church in Normandy and killed an 85-year-old priest as he celebrated Mass.
The Paris prosecutor’s office identified the man as Abdel-Malik Nabil Petitjean, 19. Mr. Petitjean had been on the radar of the police since June 29 for having tried to enter Syria from Turkey, and a foreign intelligence agency sent his picture to French intelligence on July 22 — four days before the attack — but without a name or description, the prosecutor’s office said. The Paris prosecutor’s office identified the man as Abdel-Malik Nabil Petitjean, 19. It was not clear how he knew the other killer, Adel Kermiche, also 19, who lived near the church, the Église St.-Étienne, in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class suburb of Rouen.
Both teenagers were of Algerian ancestry. They were shot dead by the police after the assault on the church, which also left an 86-year-old parishioner severely wounded; he is in stable condition.
The Islamic State released videos on Wednesday in which the two teenagers pledged allegiance to the terrorist group before embarking on their assault.
Mr. Petitjean was born in St.-Dié-des-Vosges, in Lorraine in northeastern France, but grew up in Aix-les-Bains, in the southeast. He attended a high school there, the Lycée Marlioz, and his father lives in Montluçon, a town in central France, north of Clermont-Ferrand.Mr. Petitjean was born in St.-Dié-des-Vosges, in Lorraine in northeastern France, but grew up in Aix-les-Bains, in the southeast. He attended a high school there, the Lycée Marlioz, and his father lives in Montluçon, a town in central France, north of Clermont-Ferrand.
Interviewed by French reporters Wednesday night, Mr. Petitjean’s mother expressed astonishment. Mr. Petitjean flew to Turkey on June 10 but was stopped at the airport, before he reached the passport-control desk, when he was seen talking with someone who was on the no-entry list, according to a Turkish official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He left Turkey the next day, and was placed on a blacklist, as a precaution, the following week, and the French authorities were immediately notified, the official said.
She said he had last spoken to her early this week. She said: “He said, ‘Don’t worry, gets some sleep, everything is O.K.’ He had a soft voice. He sounded well. It wasn’t worrisome. He has friends, like everyone else. I have friends all over France.” The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Thursday that Mr. Petitjean came to the attention of the police on June 29. On July 22 — four days before the attack — a foreign intelligence agency sent his picture to French intelligence services, but without a name or description, the office said.
The mother told reporters, “Daesh is not part of his language,” using an Arabic term for the Islamic State, and said of her son, “He is not an introvert; he has no psychological issues.” Interviewed by French reporters, Mr. Petitjean’s mother, who was identified by news agencies as Yamina Boukessoula, expressed astonishment.
She said he had last spoken to her early this week. She said: “He said, ‘Don’t worry, get some sleep, everything is O.K.’ He had a soft voice. He sounded well. It wasn’t worrisome. He has friends, like everyone else. I have friends all over France.”
The mother told reporters, “Daesh is not part of his language,” using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
She said that her son had been visiting a cousin in northeastern France and that she had no idea how he had ended up in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, the town in Normandy where the attack occurred, although he appeared to have relatives in Normandy.She said that her son had been visiting a cousin in northeastern France and that she had no idea how he had ended up in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, the town in Normandy where the attack occurred, although he appeared to have relatives in Normandy.
“I was a good mother,” she told reporters. “I was always there for my children, maybe even too much. Malik doesn’t have psychological problems. He’s like all 19-year-olds with ambition, with plans. He’s smart.” “I was a good mother,” she said. “I was always there for my children, maybe even too much. Malik doesn’t have psychological problems. He’s like all 19-year-olds with ambition, with plans. He’s smart.”
At 9:25 a.m. on Tuesday, officials say Mr. Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, also 19, burst into the church, the Église St.-Étienne, in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class suburb of Rouen. They killed the auxiliary priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, and held five other hostages — two nuns and three worshipers. One of the nuns escaped, while one of the parishioners, an 86-year-old man, was critically injured and is now in stable condition. Mr. Petitjean and Mr. Kermiche were shot dead by the police. Mr. Kermiche had been detained for nearly 10 months after trying, twice, to enter Syria, but he was released in March over the objections of prosecutors. He was made to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, forbidden to leave his local department of Seine-Maritime, required to report to a probation officer once a week and ordered to live in his parents’ house. He was allowed free movement from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on weekdays; the attack on the church occurred at 9:25 a.m.
Mr. Kermiche had been detained for nearly 10 months after trying, twice, to enter Syria, but he was released in March over the objections of prosecutors. He was made to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, forbidden to leave his local department of Seine-Maritime, required to report to a probation officer once a week and ordered to live in his parents’ house. The killing of the priest has elicited condemnation worldwide. On Thursday, the French Council of the Muslim Faith urged Muslims to attend Mass on Sunday morning, to “again express solidarity with and compassion for our Christian brothers.”
The measures did not prevent the killing. It was during his judge-allotted period of free movement — 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on weekdays — that it occurred.
The Islamic State released videos on Wednesday of the two teenagers pledging allegiance to the terrorist group before embarking on their assault.
The killing of the priest has elicited condemnation worldwide. Pope Francis, who is on his first official visit to Poland, told reporters as he flew to Krakow from Rome that “the world is at war” but added: “I am not speaking of a war of religions. Religions don’t want war. The others want war.”
President François Hollande has again found himself confronting the specter of Islamic State terrorism — a rampage in Nice, on the evening of July 14, Bastille Day, which killed 84 people, followed by the attack on the church in Normandy just 12 days later — as the nation’s mood has increasingly turned somber.President François Hollande has again found himself confronting the specter of Islamic State terrorism — a rampage in Nice, on the evening of July 14, Bastille Day, which killed 84 people, followed by the attack on the church in Normandy just 12 days later — as the nation’s mood has increasingly turned somber.
On Thursday morning, Mr. Hollande met with lawmakers to discuss the possibility of establishing a National Guard of volunteer reservists, including retired gendarmes, to help protect the nation. The plan will be presented to the government’s defense council in early August, followed by parliamentary consultations in September. On Thursday morning, Mr. Hollande met with lawmakers to discuss the possibility of establishing a National Guard of volunteer reservists, including retired gendarmes, to help protect the nation. The plan, which he first floated in November, “is not meant to replace public forces, but to back them up and reinforce them,” Mr. Hollande said at a ceremony to open a highway in southwestern France.
Mr. Hollande’s government declared a state of emergency in November, and it was extended after the attack in Nice, giving the police and prosecutors expanded powers. But he has resisted calls by political rivals, including the former President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leader of the far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, for even more drastic constitutional and legal changes. Mr. Hollande’s government declared a state of emergency in November. It was extended after the attack in Nice, giving the police and prosecutors expanded powers. But he has resisted calls by political rivals, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leader of the far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, for even more drastic constitutional and legal changes.
On Thursday, Mr. Hollande reacted angrily to a comment a day earlier by Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for president of the United States, who, in response to the killing of the priest, said that “France is no longer France.”
Mr. Hollande retorted: “France will always be France. It never gives up, because it still bears ideals, values, principles that are recognized worldwide, and it’s when you lower your standards that you are no longer what you are. That’s something that may happen to others, on the other side of the Atlantic.”